Eat your heart out Bon Appetit: Only Ars has BBQ science, li

Within the Conde Nast universe, we typically leave the Thanksgiving stuff to our colleagues at Bon Appetit (though s/o for their continued restaurant recommendations as we navigate tech conference season). But as a group of humans, we do enjoy food and all things culinary. And occasionally, it even crosses our desks outside of lunch hour.

So with a week-and-change left to plan this year's first winter holiday meal menu, this week's Orbital Transmission shifts focus entirely to the kitchen. Ars may never be the place to get dinner recommendations or a recipe for green bean casserole, but we'll willingly eat fake meat White Castle or test smart sous-vide machines in the name of journalism.

Orbital Transmission 11.13.2018

Look... ovenroasted is kinda boring. BBQ, in contrast, never is—and this artform relies heavily on sound science. So while many of us may never be able to recreate the brisket from Snow's BBQ (the No. 1 spot in Texas, therefore the world?), scientists like Greg Blonder at Amazing Ribs have simple tips to up your backyard grill/smoker game. Tinfoil, pre-salting, and something called pork-us interruptus (which lets you prep the day before) can all be your friend this year. (Science is also ready to help you properly break spaghetti in half if you're looking for a meatless main course.)

We may have written way more about Android 4.4, but that OS's namesake is one of the few things that will truly excite a veteran tech and culture reporter. While in Japan, Ars' Sam Machkovech caught wind of a new Nestlé Chocolatory, essentially a store offering made-to-order, liquid-nitrogen-hardened, custom Kit-Kat bars. Naturally, he hopped a four hour train ASAP. His TL;DR? "I'd never had a candy-bar bite like that in my life." May society's rich history with chocolate continue.

When it comes to sustainable food sources, a third of Americans are willing to eat lab grown meat—but it's pretty difficult to convince most to try entomology (aka eating bugs) instead. The future of food since at least 2014, recent science says presenting insects as an exotic delicacy or a luxurious indulgence, rather than a healthy protein source that is more environmentally responsible than consuming meat, stands as the best way to currently convince an anxious eater. That worked for Ars Science Editor John Timmer (ooo, black ants?), but we'd still suggest Pecan will be more of a crowd-pleaser than Breakfast-Mealworm in this year's pie competition.